A Cutting-Edge Cancer Treatment May Cause Cancer.
The year 2017 was marked by the (FDA) approval of the first two chimeric antigen receptor-T (CAR-T) therapies.
CAR-T cell therapy harnesses the immune system to attack blood cancers. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is investigating whether it can give rise to secondary cancers.
THE FDA says it is investigating cases in which some patients who received a type of cutting-edge cancer treatment later developed new cancers.
Known as CAR-T cell therapy, the treatment involves removing certain immune cells called T cells from patients and genetically modifying them to find and attack cancer.
Since 2017, the FDA has approved six commercial CAR-T cell therapies for blood cancers such as leukemias and lymphomas. Researchers are also testing these promising therapies for a range of other cancers, as well as autoimmune diseases.
Now, the agency is probing reports of some patients’ T cells becoming cancerous after receiving these therapies. The FDA announced that some patients have been hospitalized or have died following treatment, and the agency is evaluating the need for regulatory action.
These therapies are a last-line option when conventional treatments like chemotherapy and radiation don’t work. While they don’t always lead to a cure, CAR-T cell therapies have shown remarkable results against some of the most intractable cancers. Up to two-thirds or more of patients have gone into remission after getting CAR-T cell therapy, depending on the cancer type.
The first CAR-T cell therapy, Kymriah, was considered a breakthrough when it was approved. At the time, the FDA’s then commissioner, Scott Gottlieb, said: “We’re entering a new frontier in medical innovation with the ability to reprogram a patient’s own cells to attack a deadly cancer.”
